22 May 2019 – Aladdin

Tue: grocery day@Parkway Giant to save $$2.50, 3%senior day. Food market@MarineParade is reopened after renovations but my sugar-cane drink stall is no longer. Pleasant life entertainment today.

Premiere of Aladdin, tkx to Daisy. Missed Stanley, Andrew (immigrated to Australia)&Darryl (National Service) who are in  A Whole New World. Personal preference is still the 1992 animated version with Robin Williams (may he RIP). Still worth the time to enjoy another happy ending Disney movie with Wil Smith as Genie and hearing another version of A Whole New World.

Wed: https://thenewageparents.com/hari-raya-light-up-geylang-serai/

Have been looking forward to this walkabout since it was set up –

started my 4hrs walk from ChangiRd-GeylangRd and up SimsAve to soak in the whole ambiance and all the lights.

Food Glorious Food – Oh food! magical food! wonderful food! marvelous food! –  Lionel Bart. Enjoying&overdosing the abundance of this festival foods.

The vibrant colours and matching family outfits are to die for. How I used to like dressing my family in the same outfits when they were kids must have been an influence from this.

The sun has not even set yet and look at the crowd on a Wed! Most definitely do NOT want to be here in the bazaars-grounds during public holidays, weekends and after sunset.

The traffic is jammed bumper to bumper. Might take a double-decker bus down this same route and up Sims Ave to enjoy the lights one more time just sitting and admiring from the comforts of an AC bus!

Delighted to discover Wisma Geylang Serai.

Here it was peaceful and beautiful, without crowds but with a high ceiling to give the feeling of open-wild space. Hypnotized by the lights and the tranquility, lingered on to calm the body&soul.

Galeri Warisan Heritage Gallery worth the visit if you are in the area.

Of all the 3 Worlds during the 1950s, this one has the best name to my ears. Visited mainly the Great World, being nearest to where I used to live. Shared this on FB Nostalgic Singapore/FB-NS and appreciations to Shamsul Bahrin who informed me that Happy World became Gay World and after that People’s Association – had always thought the there were 3Worlds, but now I know otherwise.

Childhood games and toys. We made our own catapults and 5-stones. Was not that good with the top or marbles. And again thru’ FB-NS (getting to like this new discovered site) learnt that the colourful game there is Kuti-Kuti/k-k where I used to thread thru’ the loops of the figures to make bracelets out of them, but that was not what they were for. Pix credits of k-k to Richard Lincoln

Tkx to Richard Lincoln – the kuti -kuti were used as stakes in card games during our childhood. The other way we used them was in a ‘battle’. One on one. The objective was to get your kuti-kuti up onto your opponent’s, by using the fingertip to push it up. So we always chose one that was ‘goondu’. Which meant curved or bent upwards like a ‘c’. For obvious reasons. As mentioned earlier, the loops had to be intact to use the k-k. 

Absolutely thrilled to stumble upon this cozy AC reading room where I sat for a few minutes enjoying the whole space to myself.

Taking the overpass to the market in time to see ppl breaking fast.

Also time for to listen to the heart but using the legs to head up SimsAve to bus13. Feeling blessed and appreciating this lovely evening breeze as I drift off to dreamland.

10 Mar 2019 – Aloha

Fri: away for less than a month, no need to cover things but painted the bathroom floor and that should be good&dry when I get back. Hope that the old cracked duck-taped suitcase with a cover will survive this journey from SIN-PVG-HNL-ITO-HNL-PVG-SIN. (SIN-HNL-SIN-US$736/S$1,000, HNL-ITO-HNL-US$158/S$215) Had to pay S$60 extra charges due to error in name on ticket!

Sat: T3 SIN-PVG on ChinaEastern flying time nearly 5hrs arr into T1 dark&wet 0400hrs. There is even a BreadTalk here in this airport@T2. Had plenty of time to get to know this airport before catching the Metro into LongYang St (CNY6/S$1.25 app 35mins with one change).

Had a wonderful day thanks to Christopher for taking&showing me KerryParkside, a mall with some tasteful decorated shops and a hotel.

Also a good day to be indoors – did not have any clothing for the rains&cold weather. Looks like a bakery here is ready for Easter!

The world’s fastest train, Maglev running at 430kmph (267mph) took about 8mins for 30k from town to the airport, (CNY40/S$8 OW). The last time here and on this train was May2009.

https://amylamsg.com/2009/05/30/shanghai/

Driving the train doesn’t set its course. The real job is laying the track – Ed Catmull

Perfect timing to collect my backpack@the left luggage (CNY30/S$6), PVG-HNL flight (8+hrs) dep on schedule arr into HNL ahead of schedule@0800hrs and check-in bag was already waiting for me. Aloha from where a beautiful rainbow welcomed me. Tkx to David&Huang for meeting me@the airport.

Small chicken taco+Mexican coleslaw lunch in town before heading to Wilki&Patti

Kaneohe – Wilki has green thumbs, his garden is lush&green and this is in the area&surroundings where the movie JurassicPark was filmed. The amazing yellow flowering tree is a Saraca asoca tree, also know as Sorrowless tree. It is believed Shakyamuni Buddha was born under an ashoka tree in Lumbini Garden. In Hinduism the ashoka is considered a sacred tree 

Picked up Thai-food for dinner back@David’s in Manoa. 1st time tasting these CocoPuffs from Liliha Bakery – little cream puff shells with a creamy chocolate filling and topped with buttery macadamia nut Chantilly frosting are just heavenly. The original recipe is a highly-guarded secret. Tkx to Wilki for bringing dessert. Crashed by 2300hrs after hardly any sleep on both flights.

Sun: slept thru’ 8hrs last night which was needed and welcomed. ManoaLibrary for a book sale.

Farmers’ Market and was introduced to Kukui nuts (candle-nuts) and purple Anthuriums which I have never seen and had to get a bunch for US$3/S$4.10.

A walk in the ManoaValley neighbourhood to check out these stunning trees.

Cannot get enough of these roots of this tree which is also my landmark to find the way to David’s.

In the garden, the yellow Hibiscus are soon fading; the Avocado tree+fruits are still going strong that even the birds know where to find them! Some for my daily breakfast and they are good.

Bougainvilleas&Waterlily are doing OK in this garden, but seems like end of the season for this Plumeria/Frangipani@the neighbour’s garden. Strangely enough, here in HI, so far what I have seen, these plants usually are either full of leafs without flowers or full of flowers without leafs?

Edited 26Apr: fascinating to learn that Plumeria/Frangipani is in the tomb plant family (Apocynaceae)!!!

In my SIN childhood days, it was known as 死人花=dead people flower, probably because they grow abundantly&easily, and thus the usual flower used for funeral wreaths then. Grandfather’s 1950 funeral@5Temenggong Rd

9 Apr 2015 – Asian Sea-bass

Wed: Calcalifer (Bloch) is commonly called the sea-bass or giant sea perch. It has been cultured in Southeast Asia for 10+yrs. Rough est as I have been informed –  out of the 1mil eggs laid by the female fish, the hatching rate is up to 70%. The lave stage follows lasting app 3-4week.

Sea-bass fry and fingerlings should be reared in concrete or fiberglass tanks up to the size 2.5 cms or 1 inch, takes roughly up to a month. The survival rate for the nursery period would be 60 to 80%, depending on feeding, aquatic environmental conditions and the expertise of the fish farmers.

Another month and the fry are ready to be sold to other fish farmers who will then raise them for the consumption market. Not easy to take pix of a shoal of them at this stage as they are easily frightened and can swim really fast! At present in this location they are only doing the hatchery and nursery. The farming part will be included with time.

Today a fish with an infection in the eye was taken care of but sadly we lost some mature fish, app 32″ 7kg. Poor fish were  splashing away last night during a change of water – old age and under stress conditions are not good combinations. The first day for some young students here on attachment to learn about this stage of the sea-bass’s journey.

https://www.facebook.com/AdeelaSdnBhd?

Thu: an early morning walk to the main highway, app 900steps from the hatchery.

The morning  traffic was heavy with all the commuters heading to work! The mosque had their prayers on the loud-speakers at 04.30hrs. Have been warned, thus sleeping with ear-plugs and so far have not been wakened by them but do hear the loudspeakers going 4times the rest of the day! Another life time ago, I have questioned as to why they are unable to worship discreetly and quietly and today I am still wondering why?? At the junction of the of the main highway and Jalan Keramut Telisais is the nearest convenience store from Adeela عدیلہ نام = noble in Arabic/Urdu

Delightful tree with a swing made from an old tyre and a hammock. Felt like a kid again and wanted to go on them, but of course feeling and wanting to do so may not be a good idea. Alas if this is the result of age and wisdom – I might want to be otherwise 🙂

Found this cicada lying on its back with red ants crawling around. Thought that it was dead but to discover on turning it around, was still alive. The question, do I leave nature to take its course? But it was on the concrete and not in nature. Moved it back to Mother Nature for her to decide it’s fate. Lived at the foothills of Mt Faber, Temenggong Rd/SIN in the 1950s and have heard their sounds thru’out childhood. Only today did I meet with a cicada whose sounds have been such a comfort to me.

Japanese haiku poets found something morose in the sound, an omen of the cicada’s short adult life. In the cicada’s cry, … no sign can foretell how soon it must die – Matsuö Basho

16 Jan 2015 – And Feeling It

Mon: Movie Mr Turner****This film explores the last quarter century of the great if eccentric British painter J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851). Profoundly affected by the death of his father, loved by a housekeeper he takes for granted and occasionally exploits sexually, he forms a close relationship with a seaside landlady with whom he eventually lives incognito in Chelsea, where he dies. Throughout this, he travels, paints, stays with the country aristocracy, visits brothels – brilliant acting and I do like some of his art.

Visited 4th aunt who is admitted into Mt E. She will be 101yrs this Oct!

Tue: service for 3 AC units S$90 per visit done 2-3times annually! Also unlimited access online after signing M1 Fibre Broadband. But a mess with the wires etc behind the sofa…

Hair cut in Parkway S$5 which is still reasonable even though it used to be S$3! Grocery shopping at NTUC Fairprice and Giant as both locations offer senior discounts on Tue.

Wed: nephew Clem at Gleneagles for cataract surgery. The high-tech laser enables one to be just a day patient and boy it sure is expensive even for 4-5hrs! Anyway all’s well that ends well and made sure he got home safely and had dinner with a patch on his right eye which will be removed tomorrow. Les&Ivy will also be having their cataract surgery next week by Dr Jerry Tan, CHIJ class-mate Evelyn Tan’s bro.

Thu: am so blessed with all the attention, gifts and greetings. Thank you to all for your thoughtful and kind Bday wishes.

Appreciations to niece Adeline for delicious lunch at Paradise Pavilion****MarinaBay Financial and to Henry for yummy ‘Death by Chocolate’ dessert at Max Brenner Chocolate****Esplanade

From Marina Bay Financial centre, discovered that I could walk underground to Raffles Place MRT One stop away from Raffles Place is City Hall. Then underground from City Hall Link to Esplanade. Did not even go outdoors all the way! SIN is amazing!

Fri: thank you to niece Daisy for lunch in Chinatown and dessert at PS.Café***Ann Siang Hill. Keylime pie there is tart and highly recommended. Like the way how their water jugs are filled with colour fruits. Looks tastefully refreshing. Dinner with Clem at the famous Zion Rd fried kway teow.

Beautiful sunset pix at Labrador Park for TGIF. Credits to Chris

If the boy and girl walk off into the sunset hand-in-hand on the last scene, it adds 10 million to the box office – George Lucas

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 130,000 times in 2014. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 6 days for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

23 Dec 2014 – ‘Bitte Juleaften’

Sun: the last and 4th Sunday of Advent with Hope, Peace, Love & Joy all lit.

HOPE that all your Christmas shopping is done 🙂

PEACE be with us all and on Earth

LOVE sincerely

Give JOY for the Holiday Season

An easy day at the beach admiring grandniece’s sandcastle. Does not feel too much like Christmas, but then is there any child who does not like sand castles??  I know for sure that all 6 of the grandchildren do 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 Kiera did a great job with hers!

Yummy beef salad for lunch at Sands****on the beach. Interesting taste when it is combined with some Thai Fish Sauce, delicious and appetising. The view is nice.

BBQ for dinner where enough food for an army was sent to the Presidential Villa. Thanks to Les & Kat who did the cooking – chicken, lamb-chops, prawns, salmon, squids, steak were top quality. When Devon saw all the food and the table laid, her sweet tiny voice said We’re going to have a party’! When there is a 2yrs old in the dinner party, being next to the bedroom is the way to go.

Mon: a good morning massage and a pedicure before checking out. Uneventful flight and landed on time safely.

Tue: checked up at Mt E and medications to revise if necessary. Looks like a drug addict with all these mediation I am swallowing and wondering how my stomach is going to handle them. In addition both hands got infected and swollen from all the intravenous drips. Let’s hope all these anti-bio in me will kill the infections. Gifts are still not fully wrapped, and online greetings not done. Do not know when I felt sooo unprepared for the holidays…

Massage is the only form of physical pleasure to which nature forgot to attach consequences – Robert Brault

21 Dec 2014 – Grandfather & Grandmother Rocks

Sat: half hour drive south of the resort to South Lamai are HinTa and HinYai/Grandfather Grandmother Rock resembling the male and female genitals sculpted naturally by the sea. Quite an ironic name for such rocks considering the virility of grandparents 🙂

Whilst providing some giggles for many visitors, these formations are believed by the locals for their strength and virility-giving powers. The colour of another rock formation out towards the S China Sea is quite beautiful and the black surfaces are so smoothly polished.

Browsing thru’ the souvenir stalls and enjoying the Italian sorbet after seeing the rocks. Bought these adorable outfits for the 2 youngest grandchildren.

Continued sight-seeing towards  the centre of town in the resort’s 10seater chauffeured-driven van. Reminds me of SIN in the 1950s. To my surprised was dropped off at The Central Festival, a Snoppy dominated mall which is rather big for this island with an area of 228.7 km² and a pop of 63,000+ but an annual pop of 1.5mil, more than double the pop, quite amazing!

Koh=island and Samui=coconut, thus Coconut Island with history gong back to the 15C where fishermen from Malaya and Southern China first settled here.

Was informed that it would have taken 3+hrs to drive around the island but for this time round, here to relax in the resort and to use the SPA. Also neither the energy level nor mood are up to it. Who knows if and when a revisit will ever happen and if it does, might wish to see more!

2 above pix credits to Agoda Travels

A tastefully presented dinner at the resort’s Saffron****where it is the first experience that my hands were washed in such beautiful and fragrant flower petals water before a meal. Reservations with the name-sign painted on a leaf caught my attention – a memorable place. Pix not sharp but better than none!

Seems like the ‘Jumping Frogs’ are well received by 3 generations here!

16 Nov 2014 – And My Young Hero!

Sun: raining cats and dogs here at Marine Crescent. Quite delightful hearing kids enjoying the rains and playing in the playgrounds!

Big Hero 6****the special bond that develops between plus-sized inflatable robot Baymax, and prodigy Hiro Hamada, who team up with a group of friends to form a band of high-tech heroes. Needed something like this and the heroes to get me thru’ this and the next couple of weeks…

Sat: tkx to bro Steven’s branch for including me to this movie and for lunch. Really appreciate to be with the nieces and nephews and families. Happy Bday to the other younger hero 🙂 Chris at Campers’ Corner.

The week has been quite an exhausting one! Lawrence was in town since Tue. Have been meeting up with him daily to realize that the energy level is way way way below as hoped. Reality hits hard 🙂 🙂

Fri: completely beat after seeing Lawrence off. Changi Airport is in a Mikey Mousing mood for the Holiday Season. A trip to Mustafa@Little India to get some gifts after the airport and later crashed in my space switching off everything except the AC 🙂 🙂 🙂

Thu: a long day after blood test@Mt E and paying respects to our parents at Mandai with Lawrence and Jo. Sooo wanted to go on a ZooMooV ride@AMK Hub, but had to be happy with just a pix. Appreciations to Charles/SY for his good company all day.

Wed: was when my young hero risked himself into the densely over-grown jungle and over-pop with fire-ants! Tkx Chris and tkx for the rides. Early Bday greetings to him and belated Bday greetings to Sam@Campers’ Corner.

Tue: met Lawrence at the airport and had dinner with Les&Ivy. Here is proof that my family does eat at hawkers centre, especially when it is one of the best Fried Kway Teows from 18 Zion Rd****Everything to moderation according to the cardiologist…

The man who makes everything that leads to happiness depends upon himself, and not upon other men, has adopted the very best plan for living happily. This is the man of moderation, the man of manly character and of wisdom – Plato

25 Aug 2014 – With More Experiences Gained

After being exposed for a week in the oppressive humidity and heat is not the idea situation for both head and heart. Tkx to Calvin to including me to his Camper’s Corner Team. Good to have done it and with a young and delightful companion of Chris, the week was filled with laughter and humour. Happy to know him better. Missed him on Fri when it was his day off. To Yukie, grateful for her bringing us food and for helping. Enjoyed her youthful refreshing company.

The neighbouring booth, Nep’s Plants is one of the best neighhours who have crossed my exhibitions show paths. SIAW Yu Zhang launching his book XYZ’s Experience with Growing Tropical Pitcher Plants in Singapore. This young 17yrs man is knowledgeable and passionate about his air and pitcher plants with his whole family (3 generations) including grandparents supporting him thru’ out the week. Such a privilege to have met his family too.

Met some interesting people including Emiliano from Tahiti and a lady from Steward Island/NZ. First time meeting people from those places and learnt a bit from them. Grateful to others who stop by, especially to Christian who was busy packing to head back to Norway.

The organisers will be getting feed-backs from the various booths where Camper’s Corner was also located to let them know that there were no signages to let the public know about the booths around the SuperTree Grove. The shuttle completely by-pass this area. The whole show beautiful as it is was too spread out and there were some fainting incidents and sirens were heard! As this is the first time using Gardens by the Bay for SGF, hopefully they can improve for the next SGF in 2016, ie if it is to be held in this same location.

Sat: tkx to Les&Ivy for pre-dinner drinks at Pollen@the Dome and dinner at at SuperTree by IndoChine*** Perfect locations after a hot tiring long day! Good to also catch up with Lawrence who is visiting for the weekend from KCH.

Fun paper chair, mini dome lights, remote-control VW van and a 4pp tent on display.

Sun: happy to close this 2014 SGF. To Christian, Chris and our neighbour Richard (the heat took its toll), blessed to have these charming men crossing this life’s journey at this stage. Best of luck to all.

Appreciations for the relaxing family champagne and caviar dinner at Les&Ivy. Jo made some food too. To be with family Lawrence, Jo&Michael, Les&Ivy and dear niece Sue is the priority. Safe journeys to us who will be flying off to our various destinations this week… 

One of my favourite displays at the 2014 SGF located at the Meadow/Gardens by the Bay. This simple serenity is pleasing to my eyes…

Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood – Ralph W Emerson

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 130,000 times in 2013. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 6 days for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.